Valid host name

"w2k.ajm1.webajm.com. is not a valid host name! There is no A record for w2k.ajm1.webajm.com.. This means that you may be getting no mail, or only some mail. In the best case, there is a lot of unnecessary network traffic. So you need to fix this!"

I am having problems receiving mail.
I run a W2K server with a couple of web sites hosted. My Servers FQDN is W2k.ajm1.webajm.com. My domain is webajm.com and is registered.

1) Why am I getting this message? How to fix it?
2) I can't find a way to add an (A) record for my FQDN. The first zone listed in the DNS is ajm1.webajm.com

You need 2 Authorative DNS servers hosting your Domain. Do you have them ?

Did you check your event logs ?

Please give a complete description of how this server is setup !

also, some other help from experts that may be relevant.

From: Housenet Date: 02/07/2001 08:08PM PST
Some things you should know & that I suffered over for a couple of weeks on my first 2000 install.
-When you have a single DC with AD it has all the 2000 domain fuction roles & this is generally not
recomended. Doing so is okay but you have to learn how to lookup the error messages in the & on
MSKB to determine which ones you should take literally or seriously.
-If you know NT 4 you are probably very comfortable setting up tcp-ip settings for a LAN, internet access, dns etc... Applying the same settings in 2000 will result in domain related errors like you are describing.

-The fact is, DNS is the means of resolution in active directory & a critial factor in setting up a
2000 domain is to setup DNS properly. What this means is..
-Correctly configured 2K dns name space that does not match your internet domain name.
-A forward & reverse lookup zone in DNS for your LAN's subnet. The single 2K DC should use & provide dns resolution for the lan by having every pc & the server itself point to only the 2K server's inside IP for DNS resolution. On the 2K server (with internet access) delete the (.) root zone then enable forwarders & root hints. Enter your isp's dns server IP's only in the forwarders option on the 2K DC.

-A server like yours with tcp-ip dns configured with ISP dns servers with cause all kinds of domain
errors related to the fact that it is trying to contact other AD-DNS servers to discover ad-dns records
about the domain. It also can cause long delays opening certain management mmc's.
-there's alot to it & I dont mind sharing my experiences if it is helpful....is it ?

-You servers tcpip properties should point only to the internal DNS server IP.
-Use this with the suffix information on all windows computers in the lan to avoid dns headaches.
Dns on typical windows computer setting if 2000 domain info would show you say=server1.city.internetnamespace.com
with IP 192.168.1.2.
-The TCP on windows station, dns properties should reflect
-Host=netbios computer name
-domain=city.internetname.com
-DNS server search=192.168.1.2
-Dns suffix=city.internetname.com (append)
--------
Is your 2000 machine a DC ? I ask because it would imply that DNS server is installed on the
Advanced server.
-If I have this straight you have 2 nic's in the server. One nic is a dhcp client to the cable network
& 1 has a static address.
-On the dns server delete the root zone (.) enable forwarders (ISP's DNS) & root hints.
-have your dhcp push the servers Inside IP for dns resolution ONLY. You should also be pushing as the gateway or router option in dhcp (i think its option 003).
-The idea is....All client's including the server itself point to 192.168.0.10 for dns resolution. The
forwarders will resolve any internet requests & return the results to the clients.
-Disable rras after reconfiguring any options & re-setup enabling nat on the cable NIC.
-If you configure it this way your clients will have internet connectivity & have dns configured idealy

You need 2 Authorative DNS servers hosting your Domain. Do you have them ? Yes.

Did you check your event logs ? Yes, no events being logged.

Please give a complete description of how this server is setup ! Using 1 NIC, static IP, I have deleted the root zone (.) and enabled forwarders (ISP's DNS) & root hints. I'm not sure what else you need.

I don't understand this point "Correctly configured 2K dns name space that does not match your internet domain name."

You need 2 Authorative DNS servers hosting your Domain. Do you have them ? Yes.

Did you check your event logs ? Yes, no events being logged.

Please give a complete description of how this server is setup ! Using 1 NIC, static IP, I have deleted the root zone (.) and enabled forwarders (ISP's DNS) & root hints. I'm not sure what else you need.

I don't understand this point "Correctly configured 2K dns name space that does not match your internet domain name."

This message comes from http://www.declude.com/tools/dns.html When I put in my domain that is one of the errors that is relavant to me not being able to recieve some e-mail. I also get this similar message on e-mail that is undeliverable from others.

As I said in my earlier post the only zone listed beside my other hosted sites is ajm1.webajm.com there isn't a zone for w2k.ajm1.webajm.com so i don't know how to create an (A) record for w2k.ajm1.webajm.com.

Notice the way you enter in the IP address for your MX record: w2k.ajm1.webajm.com internet address = 192.168.1.100

192.168.1.100 is a private/internal address. Internet routers can't route to this address. Change it to 64.192.153.153 since it is the external IP address of your server (I assume).

By the way, does the ajm1.webajm.com exists? Did you create this sub-domain (on your server? you should also create it on the VR4.3SX.3SXPERTS.com server also -- it can cause name resolution inconsistency). I get a timed out when querying this sub-domain.

I'm confused by what you mean "By the way, does the ajm1.webajm.com exists?" How can I verify if it does exist?
Would that mean "ajm1.webajm.com" would need to be registered with NetworkSolutions as a domain name? How do I create a sub-domain?

In my original post:
"w2k.ajm1.webajm.com. is not a valid host name! There is no A record for w2k.ajm1.webajm.com"

Is this error because it is trying to send mail to 192.168.1.100 my FQDN is that why it is looking for an (A) record for w2k.ajm1.webajm.com?

you do have a zone/domain called webajm.com, however, do you have a zone/domain called ajm1.webajm.com? Did you ever create this sub-domain? DNS works in a hierachy order. Before w2k.ajm1.webajm.com can be a valid host name, ajm1.webajm.com must be created as a sub-domain to webajm.com. Do you have a zone called ajm1.webajm.com in your DNS server? VR4.3SX.3SXPERTS.com doesn't seem to have a record of it. Furthermore, this sub-domain doesn't have to be registered.

MX record is used for mail routing. when you send mail, a mail server will consult this DNS record to look for the mail router/server responsible for receiving and routing mail for your domain. In this case, it finds that the address of your mail router is invalid. When you specify an MX record, usually all you have to do is type in the mail router's FDQN. It will then try to resolve the name to an IP address corresponding to its A record. In your case, the A record and the one specified for the MX record have the same FDQN, but different IP address -- therefore, no corresponding A record for the 192.168.x.x address.

Yes, I do have a zone ajm1.webajm.com it includes subfolders of: _msdcs,_sites, etc.
There is also a webajm.com zone located seperately with a sub folder of ajm1, it contans an (A) record of W2k. The Webajm.com folder contains my MX record and 2(A) records.

How do I correct the issue with my MX record because my FQDN is w2k.ajm1.webajm.com and it's IP is 192.168.x.x. Anytime I reference it as my mail server it uses the 192.168.x.x, which technically is correct?

Does your comment: "In your case, the A record and the one specified for the MX record have the same FDQN, but different IP address -- therefore, no corresponding A record for the 192.168.x.x address." referwnce prior to me making the change to 64.192.x.x?

Your zone ajm1.webajm.com seems to be your Win2k domain. One quick advice is never to mix Win2k domain with Internet domain -- it causes confusion and can really mess the zone file up due to some non-standard MS DNS records. But it's not a big deal in your case.
When you registered your domain and host name with Network Solution, this is what you put in:

w2k.ajm1.webajm.com. IN A 64.192.153.153
VR4.3SX.3SXPERTS.com. IN A 64.183.45.148

Notice that the A record for your server in your zone file is:
w2k.ajm1.webajm.com. IN A 64.192.153.153

However, you had defined the address of w2k.ajm1.webajm.com in your MX record as 192.168.1.100 which doesn't correspond to any A record, and that this IP address type is only for internal use and not routable by Internet routers.

You must change the IP address of your MX record at Network Solution in order for your mail to work.

PS: The Internet doesn't have to know the internal name of your server. You can use different names to be used on the Internet (ie. w2k.ajm.webajm.com becomes mail.webajm.com). This is also not a big deal, but a good practice.

I'm with you up to the point of "You must change the IP address of your MX record at Network Solution in order for your mail to work." I host my own mail and am authoratative for the domain webajm.com and the MX records associated with it. Network Solutions shouldn't have any impact on my MX records? or should they?

I'm still kind of in the same spot of not knowing how to change my MX record for w2k.ajm1.webajm.com IP from 192.168.1.100 to 64.192.x.x. I understand that when I registered for a domain name I was required to supply 2 NS's (w2k.ajm1.webajm.com and vr4.3sx.3sxperts.com)they corrospond to 2 IP's that are "public", but my DNS server w2k.ajm1.webajm.com has a private IP address of 192.168.x.x because of a router. Shouldn't I be able to "map" w2k.ajm1.webajm.com to my public IP?

When I installed W2K I was asked for a registered domain
how would you avoid the "mixing" of Internet and W2K?

I apologize, I miss understood you a bit. Since your server and vr4.3sx.3sxperts.com are authoritative for the zone webajm.com, you just have to change the MX record on these 2 servers. With your Win2k server, you should create/modify an MX record at webajm.com zone (not at ajm1.webajm.com) to point to your public address. The reason it's resloving to 192.168.x.x is because ajm1.webajm.com is your Win2k domain and has an A record of this host pointing to this internal address. When you created the MX record and using this hostname, DNS resolved it to 192.168.x.x. You should use a different name to identify your server to the Internet. IE: create an A record with a hostname called mail.webajm.com at webajm.com zone pointing to your external address, then create an MX record with this hostname. You should then change the MX record at vr4.3sx.3sxperts.com to be the same. This should be it.

PS: It would be a good idea if you make vr4.3sx.3sxperts.com holding a slave copy of your webajm.com zone. This way you won't have to update both of them everytime there's change.

webajm.com already has an IP address? you can do that, but it's not good. it can be confusing -- try to name hostnames with a legid function -- even multiple hostnames to 1 IP address. People usualy do this for web sites (ie; webajm.com and www.webajm.com resolving to the same IP - so people who don't want to type www on their browser can also connect), but not with other services. Do what you wish as long as the name resolves to an external IP address of the host providing the service.

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